


Chance Encounters

by remi_wolf



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Black Eagles Sylvain Jose Gautier, Blue Lions Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Restraints, Whump, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26766634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remi_wolf/pseuds/remi_wolf
Summary: During what is supposed to be a simple scouting mission, Felix finds that he has been tracked down by a surprisingly familiar face. Sylvain, whom he hasn't seen since Edelgard declared war upon the church, has somehow found him. Despite everything...they're still friends, and they certainly find the space to discuss the opposing sides of the war and where they stand with each other.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9
Collections: Beguilements and Distractions, Remi's Whumptober Collection for 2020, Whumptober 2020





	Chance Encounters

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day 1 of Whumptober, specifically the prompt "Waking up restrained." Keep that in mind with this piece. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy this supremely angsty situation that seems to be how my Crimson Flower route will shape up, considering I'm *still* not able to recruit Felix, despite working for it since I started that playthrough.

Felix froze as he heard a branch snap from not far to his left. He knew something had been following him for a few days now, but he hadn’t thought they had gotten this close. What had found him, he wasn’t sure, and he slowly turned to try and see if he could find what had found him. Regardless of what it was, he’d be able to dispatch it easily, but that didn’t mean he was excited for that. This was supposed to be some sort of simple scouting mission for Dimitri, nothing that would have required a proper fight, but apparently not. That was just his luck, too.

There was another snap of a branch, and Felix drew his sword, shifting in the small clearing he had found himself in, before seeing a familiar sight of red hair. Not too familiar, considering he hadn’t seen it in five years. It felt like six, but, no. Definitely five years. Five years since he had joined that damned Edelgard when she attacked the Church and the Kingdom and everyone that wouldn’t bow down before her without question. 

“Felix?”

“Sylvain.”

Felix took a deep breath as he looked at the confused face of his friend, and he carefully sheathed his sword. Sylvain. It actually was him, standing here in front of him. There was a scar along his jaw that was new, but he looked like the same Sylvain that he always did, especially as he broke into a wide smile and immediately closed the distance between them, hugging Felix tight. 

“Flames, Sylvain! Put me down!”

“Never! I’ve missed you too much.”

“You’re the one that left me. Not the other way around.”

Sylvain’s smile dropped, fading with the light in his eyes, and he set Felix down on his feet again, even if Felix already wanted to press close against him. He had missed him so desperately much, even if the other man had betrayed him and betrayed all of their friends. It seemed as though Sylvain was pulling his usual tricks, though, as he painted on a smile and shrugged as he looked at Felix. 

“Right, yeah. Sorry about that. Just...caught up with everyone in that class, you know? And...and you know. Edelgard’s got some good ideas, I suppose.”

Felix huffed a disbelieving snort as he glanced away from Sylvain before looking back at him again. “I can’t believe you. Are you serious? She’s a power-crazed monster, just like Dimitri.”

“But..." Sylvain frowned as he looked at Felix, whatever expression painted on a moment ago entirely gone from his face. “But you sided with Dimitri. You hate him, and you sided with him. You could have followed me.”

“Sylvain.” Felix couldn’t help the sharp edge to his voice. He didn’t want the reminder that he was stuck next to Ingrid and Dimitri with a Sylvain-shaped hole in his life, especially with Dimitri still acting as crazed as a wild animal. Whether Dimitri would ever be reasonable again or not, he had no idea, not that he cared. “Your tent, or mine?”

Sylvain frowned as he looked at Felix before slumping just slightly. “Yours. I lost mine a few weeks ago.”

Felix nodded, quietly pulling his pack off of his shoulders as he started to get ready for the night. This place was as good as any other to bed down for the night, and he quietly laid out the bedrolls and then the small pup tent that would help keep any stray leaves or sudden rain off of them. It was soothing work, methodical even as Sylvain started a fire not too far from them. They were far enough from any proper encampments that they’d be safe with a small fire, and a warm meal would make this night much, much easier on everyone. 

“How’s Ingrid doing?”

Felix looked up from where he tried to fix soup, still stirring at the unappetizing sludge over the fire, and he shrugged. “Fine, I guess. Working herself to the bone. She doesn’t know how to help anyone. Still feeling like she should marry into money to help her family, but also entirely unable to give up the idea of being a knight for Dimitri. You know her.”

Sylvain nodded, settling next to Felix before nudging him over to work on the soup instead. “That’s...that’s something. I’m glad she’s still...she’s still alive.”

“And if I said she died because of your emperor?”

“Edelgard’s not like that.”

“Edelgard’s also never going to sleep with you, Vain.”

“Fuck you.”

Felix rolled his eyes as he looked at the ground, though he could feel himself slumping and leaning against Sylvain. He had filled out somewhat in the years since he had seen him, and he couldn’t help but press close against his side. This was the first time he had seen his best friend in years, of course he was going to indulge in this, at least to an extent. “If...I’m wrong about her. If I’m wrong, then what does she actually believe in?”

Sylvain looked over at Felix before wrapping an arm around his waist, keeping him close. If this had been five years ago, while they were at school and less scarred and less hurt, he would have pulled away immediately. As it was now, Felix couldn’t bring himself to pretend that he didn’t absolutely crave this affection and attention from Sylvain. 

“She just wants to create a fair system. Get rid of the importance of Crests. Make it so people have to prove their worth, rather than have things handed to them.”

Felix hummed softly, to show that he was still listening, even as Sylvain continued to talk and they began to eat. The food was better after Sylvain had worked on it, and the conversation illuminated the challenges facing everything in this war, to an extent. Felix could see why Sylvain had been so taken with the emperor, but that didn’t mean that he could ever agree with her. Entirely dismantling the nobility? Removing the Church? Acting as though Crests never existed? Felix could appreciate the desires behind those goals, but he could never agree with them. There was too much shit, too much baggage to ever truly keep Fódlan from sliding back into the thousand year old habits and traditions that had kept them from completely ripping themselves apart, even if they had always been on a knife’s edge. 

That didn’t mean he couldn’t indulge in Sylvain’s company. That didn’t mean they couldn’t eat together and exchange careful touches and scared kisses. He could pull Sylvain close during the night and ignore the fact that they’d be returning to opposite sides of the war in the morning. He could indulge in Sylvain and pretend that they were still the best friends that they had grown up as. 

The night air had a chill as Felix pressed against Sylvain’s chest, bodies sticky with sweat and everything as they drifted closer and closer to sleep, hands tangled and holding onto each other. Of all the ways to spend an evening with an enemy...Felix wouldn’t have it any other way. Not with Sylvain. 

“Come back with me. I’ll keep you safe.”

Felix sighed softly at the question, at the fear he could hear in Sylvain’s voice, even if anyone else would have missed it. Abandon Dimitri. Abandon Ingrid. Abandon everything he ever knew, including the only family he had left, to be with Sylvain and fight for Edelgard. He despised Dimitri, was terrified of him, but...how could he do that?

“You know I can’t. I—I’m sorry, Sylvain.” His voice was softer than he’d ever admit that it could have been. He wanted to join Sylvain, but someone had to try and keep pulling Dimitri back. Perhaps he could try to stop Dimitri from destroying everything, or perhaps he could work to guide them towards a peaceful solution, but he couldn’t turn his back on his homeland, even if Sylvain asked him. 

“I know. I had to ask.”

Felix nodded, leaning up to press a kiss to Sylvain’s lips, long and languid and lingering and hopefully conveying all of the love he could try to manage. At least Sylvain didn’t seem to take it too hard, holding Felix tight until they fell asleep. 

Felix woke up freezing the next morning. He could feel a layer of dew on the ground and on himself, but he didn’t understand why. Sylvain should be there. At the very least, he had his tent and his bedrolls. Those should keep him warm. 

He opened his eyes, looking around before everything fell into clear focus. The ache in his wrist was thick rope, tied tight around his wrists and then drawn up to a branch of a tree, with rope around his lower legs as well. He couldn’t separate his legs at all, nor could he separate his arms, and immediately the panic started filling his chest. 

The way he was tied prevented him from moving more than squirming around, but at least he could look around the clearing. The empty clearing. His packs, tent, bedrolls, everything was missing. The only evidence that he had been there at all, that Sylvain had been there, was the smoldering fire pit they dug out the night before. Sylvain had left nothing, other than ashes and Felix, tied to a tree. Felix didn’t even have his weapons on him, nor clothes beyond a loose shirt and trousers. 

Everything felt as though it was crashing down around him. Sylvain was gone. Sylvain abandoned him, all over again. 

He was tied up, with no way to get free. 

Sylvain had killed him, even if Felix was still breathing. 

The panic kept building in Felix’s chest, crowding out breath, and he couldn’t help the scream as he tried to pull the immovable knots free.


End file.
